>> oh, can i sound like darth vader? >> i still don't good morning, america. the trial begins in minneapolis this morning. as derek chauvin, the former police officer, stands accused of murdering george floyd. that video seen around the world, sparking a racial reckoning and calls for police reform. [ chanting ] >> this morning, what we know about the jurors who will decide his fate, and how both sides plan to fight it out in court as the entire nation watches. deadly flooding emergency. parts of nashville underwater. the dangerous rushing waters and the worst flooding in more than a decade, leading to more than 130 rescues. we're tracking the new threats. fourth wave fears. the urgent warning as covid cases spike in nearly half the country. this morning, how the vaccine passport could be the way of the

future as the nation hits new records in the race to vaccinate. deadly carjacking. two teenage girls charged with murdering an uber eats driver in washington, d.c. the 13-year-old and 15-year-olds allegedly tasing the father of three and grandfather before crashing his car as he hung onto it. the outrage this morning, and the new calls for delivery drivers to have more protection. plan "sea"? the new strategy this morning in the race to move that massive ship stuck in the suez canal. more than 300 ships waiting for the logjam to be cleared. the delay costing billions of dollars every single day. the vital goods on board, and how it could affect your wallet. ♪ i'm so excited ♪ also this morning, hoop dreams. >> that's it. this unlikely run continues for ucla! >> ucla keeping their march madness streak alive with a heart-stopping overtime victory.

the elite eight now set, and the star freshman for the uconn women commanding the court, already being called the best player in basketball. we certainly do say good morning, america. hope you had a restful weekend, and we appreciate you joining us on this monday morning. we are just hours away from one of the biggest trials in recent memory. >> and that trial we're talking about is the trial of that man, derek chauvin, the former minneapolis police officer accused of killing george floyd, set to stand trial this morning. a live look now at the courthouse where opening statements will happen, whit, in just a few hours. >> t.j., the video of chauvin kneeling on floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes sparking outrage around the world, calls for police reform and igniting a racial reckoning in our country on a scale that we haven't seen since the civil rights movement. those ro tests that started last

summer continued all year and through this past weekend. >> with the floyd family holding a prayer service. alex perez is there where the trial is about to begin. good morning, alex. >> reporter: good morning, robin. the floyd family has been anxiously awaiting the start of this trial. in the courtroom we are expecting a big debate over exactly what killed george floyd as both sides work to convince the jury. this morning, all eyes on minneapolis and the man on trial accused of killing george floyd, now former police officer derek chauvin. [ chanting ] >> reporter: demonstrators taking to the streets demanding justice for floyd. chauvin pleading not guilty to second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and third-degree murder. the incident captured on cell phone and seen around the world in that difficult to watch video. chauvin pinning floyd, his knee on floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.

>> juror 44, you will serve on this jury. >> reporter: chauvin in court and taking notes during jury selection. 15 people selected including alternates. the group diverse. six men, nine women, four of them black. two who identify as multiracial. the rest white. one black woman in her 60s during selection indicated she has a very favorable opinion of the black lives matter movement. >> you wrote i am black and my life matters. >> it does. >> absolutely. >> reporter: also selected, a white female nurse in her 50s who treats covid patients. >> i recognize the amount of time that a person can be without air before they're unconscious. >> reporter: floyd's death is sparking international outrage, placing a spotlight on race and policing in this country, and demands for police reform. [ chanting ] >> reporter: earlier this month, floyd's family reaching an historic $27 million civil settlement with the city, the biggest of its kind.

>> $27 million is just money. i'll never get my brother back. >> reporter: in the courtroom, the focus will be on how exactly floyd died. a medical examiner saying he suffered cardiopulmonary arrest, and finding fentanyl and other drugs in his system. the defense expected to make the the case that that those drugs and an untreated heart condition caused his death, not chauvin. watching closely will be the attorneys for the other three officers charged in the case who will stand trial in august. prosecutors will argue in court that chauvin did cause his death and used unreasonable force in detaining floyd. had chauvin not been on his neck, prosecutors say, floyd could still be alive. law professor mark osler, along with millions of others, will be watching every second unfold. >> this is important to our nation that's watching, that we have to show that our justice system can be competent.

>> reporter: and the jurors' names will remain secret. this trial is expected to last about a month. robin? >> i know you'll be there, alex. thank you. we're going to bring in our chief legal analyst, dan abrams. dan, i know we'll be seeing you a lot in the weeks ahead. opening statements today, walk us through what both sides will try to do today. >> well, prosecutors are clearly going to focus on the video and the videos, and they're going to say, this wasn't just a violation of police protocol. they're going to say, this was an intentional assault on george floyd. they're going to say, look at the amount of time. look at the amount of opportunities that he had to stop. the defense is going to focus on something almost completely different here. they're going to say, look at what was in his system. fentanyl, other drugs. they're going to talk about his underlying heart condition, and most importantly, they're going to focus on the burden of proof here. they're going to say, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. if you have questions, if you

have uncertainty, then that the defense will say has to be an acquittal. >> let's talk about the key legal issues here. as we know, chauvin is facing three charges. is there one more than other that could lead to conviction? >> yeah. well, i think it's really important, first, to recognize that none of these charges require prosecutors to prove that chauvin intended to kill george floyd. the most significant charge here, second-degree murder, effectively means he has to have intentionally committed an assault that led to the death. not a murder, but an assault that led to his death. and now let's go to the lowest charge which is the manslaughter charge. there it's just culpable negligence on his part that led to the death. and remember with each one that led to the death becomes critical. third-degree murder is a technical legal matter, and it may not be as directly relevant

to the facts, but it could be a very good opportunity for jurors to compromise. if there are jurors, some who believe second-degree murder, others who believe second-degree manslaughter, and they simply can't agree, third-degree murder could be an opportunity there to compromise and still reach a verdict. >> dan, so many people -- so many people have seen the video. but does the public need to be prepared that this former officer could be acquitted of all charges? >> look, in any case you have to be prepared for the possibility of an acquittal. if that were to happen, i think that it would definitely be related to the burden of proof that i've talked about, which is that if that's to happen, that that means the defense was able to convince these jurors that they're not certain, that they're not sure about exactly what had happened. but i think that legal analysts who are looking at this case believe the thing people should be more prepared for is the possibility of a conviction on

one of the lower charges, if not, the manslaughter charge. again, we'll have to see exactly what evidence comes out in trial, but we know a lot of the evidence up to this point. >> right. >> we have no idea -- anyone who tells you they know for sure what's going to happen doesn't know what they're talking about. >> that's why we have a trial. all right, dan, thank you. we will have full coverage of the opening statements and the trial beginning at approximately 10:15 a.m. eastern this morning. t.j.? we have to turn now, robin, to that deadly weather. devastating parts of the south. nashville underwater. that city seeing some of the worst rain and flooding in more than a decade. elwyn lopez is live in franklin, tennessee, for us with the very latest. good morning to you, elwyn. >> reporter: t.j., good morning. the same system that brought tornados to the south dumping heavy rain here in middle tennessee. just take a look at this road still underwater. creeks and rivers overflowing. more than a hundred people had to be rescued. overnight, powerful winds taking out trees and power lines across the northeast.

this motel evacuated in new jersey after suffering significant damage. the storm traveling up the east coast after wreaking havoc in tennessee. record rainfall tormenting parts of the state. nashville under flash flood emergency. cars completely submerged. at least four killed. more than 130 people rescued from the floodwaters. this morning, many roads now impassable, buckling from the storm. >> they received more than 7 inches of rain over the past 48 hours. that's the second highest two-day rainfall total in our history. >> reporter: the rushing waters bursting through parts of this apartment complex. the water line here is above the lock. >> yeah. >> that's several feet. >> i think it's about 4 1/2 feet, maybe. >> reporter: destroying many of this man's belongings. just keeps oncoming out. and in indiana, a 40-year-old man was killed then this massive tree fell on his home.

and, t.j., people here are telling me that the water rushed in faster than they ever seen before. showing you just how deadly and dangerous flash flooding can be. t.j.? >> elwyn, thank you so much. we want to turn to our ginger zee. the storm is on the move now, and you're keeping an eye on it. >> reporter: yes, and we still have big-time wind gust problems here in the northeast. i'll get to that, but we had a 76-mile-per-hour wind gust in odessa, delaware. you can see the video there that's in neptune, new jersey, and they had one minor injury, and then gusts to 72 miles per hour on staten island. trenton, new jersey, video showing the damage over there. today we can anticipate anywhere from 30 to 50-mile-per-hour gusts overall. if you are in wooster, or say albany up to the northeast, you could see gusts up to 60. whit? >> ginger, we'll check back with you in a moment. but we turn now to the latest in the coronavirus emergency. a possible fourth wave with nearly half the country reporting an increase in new cases. abc's stephanie ramos has more.

>> reporter: this morning, health officials are bracing for another covid surge, as nearly half the country sees a rise in cases. president biden warning about the uptick. >> based on what i'm hearing, apparently people are letting their guard down. >> reporter: new infections surpassed 60,000 a day, about a 12% increase since last week. >> this is probably related to a combination of rapid opening, increased mobility, and the spread of variants which is all driving this pandemic upwards. >> reporter: but encouraging signs in the race to vaccinate. the country hitting new records. on sunday, nearly 3.3 million reported shots administers. and new signs the world is trying to get back to normal. ♪ >> reporter: health officials approving this test concert in barcelona with 5,000 attendees. all had to get rapid tests the day of the event and wear masks. a trial to help bring back large scale events.

so let me tell you about this app. new york state is launching it to allow new yorkers to prove they have been vaccinated or recently tested negative for covid. it's called excelsior pass, and businesses and venues like madison square guarden will be able to scan the qr code in the app and verify your results. when scanned, state officials say none of your personal information will be revealed, but it will show whether your pass is valid, not valid or expired, and it's completely voluntary. you won't be turned away if you don't have the app, but you may be asked to provide alternate documentation. now new yorkers will be able to start using the app this week. robin? >> a lively discussion here on the desk. stephanie, thanks so much. we're going to turn now to the crisis at the border with more than 18,000 children in federal custody. a new abc news/ipsos poll suggesting 72% of americans approve of president biden's

handling of the pandemic, but 57% disapprove of his handling of the rise in migrants along the border in mexico. rachel scott just back from the border has more. >> reporter: this morning, the biden administration is grappling with an intensifying humanitarian and political crisis at the border. as children continue to cross into the country by themselves at a record-breaking pace, texas state troopers told me they haven't seen anything like it. have you ever seen this many unaccompanied minors crossing on their own? >> no, i have not. >> reporter: more than 18,000 unaccompanied minors are currently in custody. teens like this one i met just moments after he crossed the border. he told me he left guatemala alone searching for opportunity. republican senators touring this border patrol facility in donna, texas, sharing photos and videos showing the severely overcrowded conditions inside. kids packed inside these pods, sleeping shoulder to shoulder on the floor under foil blankets. still no media allowed in.

the white house downplaying the surge saying it's nothing new. >> what we see from the data is that these surges are cyclical. they're cyclical. they're not the result of one administration's policies or another administration's policies. >> reporter: and a border official tells abc news that over the past month on average they have stopped 5,000 people trying to cross the border per day, robin. officials are only expecting that number to grow. >> all right, rachel, thank you. t.j.? we've been reporting on the trial of derek chauvin. let's pause so other stations can join the live coverage. >> an good morning. we're coming on the air at this hour for opening statement we're coming on air for opening

statements in the trial of former minneapolis derek chauvin, charged in the death of george floyd. it's hard to believe it was a year ago, chauvin with his knee on george floyd's neck. it brought it almost immediate reckoning in this country on race, justice and policing. so much of the focus of course will be on that deadly encounter recorded by a bystander. officer chauvin seen kneeling on george floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. floyd could be hearing saying i can't breathe, asking for his mother. his final words would become a rallying cry for protesters all over the country. officers confronting george floyd after he left a grocery store. police had been called after floyd allegedly used a counterfeit $20 bill.

two officers arriving. short time later two more, including officer chauvin. ending with that scene in south minneapolis. witnesses of course recording it all. chauvin's knee on floyd's neck for more than nine minutes as i mentioned. not removing that knee even when floyd was unresponsive. we all know that george floyd died later in the hospital. the four officers fired. the video igniting protests around the world. officer chauvin arrested four days later. today he stands trial in hennepin county. the charges include second degree unintentional murder. if found guilty, 10 to 15 years, a possible sentence of 40 years. third-degree murder added with

the presume sentence of 10 to 15 years. and second-degree manslaughter the presumed concern attention about four years. it has a maximum sentence of ten years. the prosecution will begin with opening statements from jerry blackwell we believe. blackwell is expected to present evidence showing derek chauvin's actions caused the death of george floyd. cause is going to be a key word in this trial. they don't have to argue the sole cause, but expect to hear the definition of cause. the defense will follow with their opening statement. eric nelson is expected to argue his client was doing his job and used reasonable and authorized force when kneeling on floyd's neck. they're expected to point to previous training termaterials drugs found in george floyd's

system. the judge, peter cahill, he was a former prosecutor, a public defender before being appointed to the bench in 2007. no need for me to say this, but enormous pressure on that judge. it was the judge who made the decision to live stream the proceedings saying because of covid very few would be allowed in the courtroom and this was the only way the families would be able to watch to hear the evidence presented along the wy. this means the country and the world will be able to watch this as it unfolds in that courtroom. this will play out on the 18th floor under very tight security given the tension surrounding this case. there are many covid restrictions in case. only one member of the floyd family and one member of the chauvin family will be allowed in the courtroom. there are two seats for reporters which will be rotated among a pool of reporters.

there are 12 jurors. eight self-identify as white. six as people of color. four identifying as black. i want to bring in linsey davis with more. we have no idea over the course of this trial how much race will be brought up. how much the conversation that ensued in this country and around the world after this, but there's no question that's the lens through which so many people are watching this. >> definitely about race. i don't have to tell you that this case is so much bigger than what happened ten months ago in minneapolis. on its face derrick chauvin is on trial. for many americans this nation is on trial. our criminal justice system is on trial. for many, especially black people, this is about black and white. this is about justice for people who aren't specifically involved in this case. this is about justice for eric

gardener and breonna taylor and daniel prude and on and on, the countless black people who have been killed by police in this country, with very little repercussions or punishment. that's what makes it interesting when you look at the context, the back drop of what was happening in this country on may 25, 2020 in new york city when a white woman called the police on a black man who was bird watching, saying a black man is threatening my life. i think you have one man's knee that has become representative of -- this symbol of the oppression of black people around the global. martin luther king iii said the impact cannot be overstated. an acquittal would mean the criminal justice system should be rethought. >> in so many ways larger than

this trial. lindsay davis will be here every step of the way. i want to bring in alex perez outside the courthouse. set the scene, the security in place, the stakes, what we're expecting to hear from the prosecution and defense. >> reporter: sure, david. on the streets the conversation hands so much about race. inside the courtroom in that building behind me, we don't expect to hear a lot about race. instead they'll be focusing on the nuances of the case, the big focus on what exactly killed george floyd. the medical examiner said he had a cardio pulmonary arrest. they found fentanyl and other drugs in his system. the defense will make the case that untreated heart condition and those drugs are what caused his death. now, obviously the prosecution has one interpretation of his death. the defense has another. the prosecution will say despite that medical condition, despite those drugs, it was derek

chauvin's knee that caused his death. you mentioned the word cause earlier. it's very important. the jury will be given instructions that have the word cause in it and explain to them how they can look at that word. the prosecution trying to proof that derek chauvin did something that led to his death. in the courtroom to give you an idea how high stakes this trial is, there's nothing else happening in this building, david. on the 18th floor, the courtroom, all other business inside the building has been postponed until the end of this trial. there's security around this building, national guard has been positioned 24 hours a day. the jurors and defendant being escorted in and out the court building out of the public's view. the judge has made it a point to make sure this happens smoothly, that the trial proceeds in a smooth fashion and he's doing

everything he can so that is what we'll see here in this courtroom. >> alex, you make a great point on the level of security surrounding the trial. you were talking about the police escorts. that involves members of the jury. they won't be sequestered at the end of each day, until deliberations. >> reporter: that's what the judge said. the jury will not be sequestered. they've been instructed to stay away from the media, social media and not absorb outside opinions. to focus on the trial and what's being said inside the courtroom. they could be possibly sequestered once deliberations begin. for now the judge said he'll continue to do it this way, bringing them in in a secure fashion and sending them home at the end of the day. >> alex perez, covered this case from the very start, thank you. i want to bring in abc's chief legal analyst dan abrams.

dan, we heard alex touch on it right there. give our viewers at home a broad stroke here of what the prosecution will need to do over the course of the case, what the defense will need to do. >> expect the prosecution to be focusing on that video and the videos potentially. they're going to talk about the fact that no matter what you think about the drugs or the underlying medical conditions, that what derek chauvin did was a substantial causal factor in the death. that's a critical point. talk about manslaughter, third-degree murder, second-degree murder, all of them require that derek chauvin caused the death of george floyd. that's where you're going to see the biggest debate in this case, very fundamentally when examining it. sounds like they've begun in the courtroom. >> we're hearing audio there.

i apologize for the feedback. we're looking at the courtroom right now. derek chauvin sitting there. you can see the plexiglass, part of the covid protocol inside the courtroom in minneapolis. let's listen to the judge for a moment, peter cahill. >> the witness' interest or lack of interest in the outcome of the case. the ability and opportunity to know, remember and tell the facts, their experience, frankness and sincerity or lack thereof, the reasonableness or the unreasonableness of their testimony in light of all the other evidence and any other factors that rely on the question of believability and credibility. you should rely on your own -- >> for viewers at home, this is judge peter cahill.

he's delivering the instructions to the jurors. you won't see them over the course of the trial. to protect their anonymity, they will remain anonymous. he's talking to the jurors. 14 of them, two alternate. >> we have extra pads if you run out of space. now, we will collect and keep your notes secure at the end of the each day. you can leave them on the chair during breaks and at the end of the day. at the end of the trial you will be allowed to take your notes with you into deliberation and i will instruct you further regarding the use of those notes at the end of the trial. keep in mind also, that i cannot give you a trial transcript at the end of the trial. no such transcript can be prepared for your deliberation. we count on the jury to rely on its collective memory and the

exhibits submitted to you. during the trial an objection may be made to some evidence. i may sustain or overrule the objection. if i sustain the objection, it means the question may not be answered. in that case you should simply ignore the question and any answer that might have been given. if no answer was given -- >> there has been so much focus even in pretrial activity on the judge, peter cahill, and his temperament. he's been extraordinarily careful in this trial so far. we heard from dan abrams. i want to bring in terry austin. terry, we were talking earlier and some of your observations were spot on about how important jury selection was in the case. in many ways this jury pool is more diverse than the city of minneapolis. >> well, that's right. this is an excellent jury.

i think the parties did a great job. it only took them two weeks. it is very diverse. nine women, five men and four of the individuals identify as black. two of them identify as mixed race. that is far more diverse than we have in hennepin county and far more diverse in the entire state. right now we have 28% black, 14% who identify as multi-racial. that compares in hennepin county to 14% black and 3% multi-racial. the parties did an excellent job. i think the fact that we have nine women is going to show some dynamics in that jury. we have some really outstanding women. juror number two when she received the jury form she said she was super kmexcited. when the judge told her she

would be on the jury, she said that's awesome. i think some of the other women who are health care professionals, will be dynamic. we have an older black woman who was a retired professional. she said i am black and my life matters. these will be some outstanding voices on the jury. the fact that neither the defense nor the prosecutor went through all of their pre-emptory strikes. they're fairly satisfied with the jury. >> i was struck by listening to the questioning of the jurors and across the spectrum the jurors understood not only what's at stake, the pressures of the case, but also the nuance of these very important issues that this country needs to take on that the world is now watching us. they said in many of their

answers that they understand and that they also believe black lives matter. they understand you can't paint with one brush all of law enforcement across the country. it was fascinating to listen to some of the jurors. >> i agree. i was surprised how many of the jurors had a mindset where black lives do matter. most of them said all lives matter. the fact that they focussed in on the fact that we have so many discrepancies in our criminal justice system, yet they said they would keep an open mind. you understand that jurors come in -- i think nelson did a great job saying i understand you come in with a particular opinion, but the very important thing is that you are able to listen to the evidence. you must apply the law obviously that the judge gives you and then form a decision. so i think, despite the fact that they answered these

questions with some biases one way or the other, they really convinced all parties that they would be able to listen to what was going on in court, they would not be influenced by what was going on in the world. they made sure they were not going to look at what was going on. so i think this is an excellent, excellent jury. >> terry austin will be with us over the course of the trial. thank you. i want to bring back dan abrams. as he continues to address members of the jury there, dan, i wanted to talk about something else extraordinary in this case. just the fact we're able to watch this split screen. there's a live stream of this trial. that was a decision made by the judge during a pandemic. typically we would not be seeing it. he believed since so few people would be allowed into the courtroom this was the only way that families on both sides, the country as a whole, would be able to watch and decide on this

trial for their own sake. >> i think that's so important. when you talk about a case that we describe that at times can be legally complicated, with questions of causation and the different degrees of murder and manslaughter, et cetera, i think it's important that the public be able to see for themselves what the evidence was and wasn't. what were the challenges that the prosecution or the defense had in the context of their cases. i mean there's so much emotion associated with that case, that being able to actually watch the testimony i think is very valuable. it is because of covid that the judge decided it. in courtrooms around the country people are allowed to watch trials live. >> dan, there was significant pushback to the notion he would live stream this trial. in the end that was the decision he made and you believe it was the right one?

>> i do. the prosecution had objected to it and in the end the judge decided that it was well worthwhile. remember, every courtroom is built with a gallery. the gallery is there so people can come watch. doesn't have to necessarily just be family members. it can be members of the community. the state of minnesota are the prosecutors are here. the people of minnesota have the right to see it. because the case impacts so many more people, i think it's a good thing the public at large can watch the case as well. >> dan, thank you. we'll be checking with you often. i want to get to steve osunsami, one of our correspondents who covered this for the last ten months. steve, as we've been pointing out, the justice system as a whole is being put to the test here with the country watching. >> reporter: absolutely. i can tell you that black

americans hearing some of the arguments are looking at some of these arguments through a different lens. the idea that, you know, we're questioning whether or not a knee to a man's neck had anything to do with whether or not he died, the answer to that to many black americans is obvious. you know, david, it can't be overstated the importance and the weight of this case to the conversation that we're having in this country on the issue of race. this trial carries the weight of injustice that black americans have experienced in this country for a very long time. it carries the weight of all of the previous police killings before and after this point that never led to charges or convictions. yes, the slice and the focus is on a very narrow legal position in this case, but it is so much greater than that. just a reminder there were protests after this incident in

cities across the country and around the world. the reaction to seeing that knee against a black man's neck was quite significant and i just want to underline that george floyd became a global symbol and so did that knee, as a symbol of oppression against black americans. david? >> steve osunsami with us this morning. greatly appreciate your insight. we believe the opening statements are set to begin. >> ladies and gentlemen of the jury, good morning. my name is jerry blackwell. i apologize for talking to you through plexiglass, but it's what the pandemic has given us. you're going to learn in this case a lot about what it means to be a public servant and to have the honor of wearing this badge. it's a small badge that carries with it a large responsibility and a large accountability to

the public. what does it stand for? it represents the very motto of the minneapolis police department, to protect with courage, to serve with compassion, but it also represents the essence of the minneapolis police department approach to the use of force against its citizens when appropriate. the sanctity of life and the protection of the public shall be the corner stones of the minneapolis police department's use of force. compassion, sanctity of life, corner stones. that badge is worn right over the officer's heart. you'll also learn the officers take an oath when they become police officers. they take an oath that i will enforce the law courteously and appropriately and, as you will learn, as applies to this case,

never employing unnecessary force or violence. not only that, i recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith and i accept it as a public trust to be held so long as i am true to the ethics of police service. a symbol of public faith, ethics to police service, sanctity of life, all of this matters tremendously to this case because you will learn that on may 25th of 2020 mr. derek chauvin betrayed this badge when he used excessive and unreasonable force upon the body of mr. george floyd. that he put his knees upon his neck and his back, grinding and crushing him until the very

breath -- no, ladies and gentlemen, until the very life was squeezed out of him. you will learn that he was unaware that mr. floyd was unarmed, that mr. floyd had not threatened anyone, that mr. floyd was in handcuffs, completely in control of the police. he was defenseless. you will learn what happened in that 9 minutes and 29 seconds, the most important numbers you'll hear in this trial, what happened in those 9 minutes and 29 seconds when mr. chauvin was applying excessive force to mr. george floyd. we have two objectives in this trial. the first is to give mr. chauvin a fair trial. mr. chauvin has a presumption of innocence. he is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

we plan to prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that mr. chauvin was anything other than innocent on may 25, 2020. the second objective is to bring you the evidence which i'm trying to preview this morning. we are bringing this case, this prosecution against mr. chauvin, for the excessive force he applied on to the body of mr. george floyd, for engaging in behavior that was imminently dangerous he applied without regard to its impact on the life of mr. george floyd. let's focus on the what we'll learn about this 9 minutes and 29 seconds. you'll hear mr. floyd say i can't breathe, please man, please. you'll see as mr. floyd is handcuffed on the ground he has

verbalized 27 times i can't breathe. please, i can't breathe. you will see that mr. chauvin is kneeling on mr. floyd's neck and back. one knee on his neck and the knee on his back as you'll be able to see for yourself in the video footage. you will hear mr. floyd as he's crying out. you hear him at some point cry out for his mother when he's being squeezed there. he was very close to his mother. you'll hear him say tell my kids i love him. you'll hear him say about his fear of dying. he says i'll probably die this way. i'm through. i'm through. they're going to kill me. they're going to kill me, man. you'll hear him crying out. you'll hear him cry out in pain. my stomach hurts. my neck hurts. everything hurts. you will hear that for yourself. please, i can't breathe. please, your knee on my neck.

you will hear it and see at the same time while shhe's crying o mr. chauvin never moves. the knee on his back. sunglasses undisturbed on his head. it goes on. you'll hear his final words when he says i can't breathe. before that time, you'll hear his voice get heavier. you will hear his words further apart. you will see that his respiration gets shallower and shallower and finally stops when he speaks his last words. i can't breathe. once we have his final words, you'll see for roughly 53 seconds he is completely silent and virtually motionless with sporadic movements. you'll learn those sporadic movements matter greatly in this case. what they reflect -- mr. floyd was no longer breathing when

he's making these movements. you'll learn about an anoxic seizure. it's the body's automatic reflex when breathing has stopped due to oxygen deprivation. we'll point out to you when you see the involuntary movements in mr. floyd part of that seizure. you'll learn about aginal breathing when the heart is stopped, when blood is no longer coursing through the vaeins. we'll point out when mr. floyd is having this breathing, an involuntary reflex to the oxygen depri deprivation. we learn that mr. floyd is at some point come plpleted passed. mr. chauvin continues on with

the knee on the back, knee on the neck and he doesn't get up for the remaining 3 minutes and 51 seconds. during this time you'll learn that mr. chauvin is told they can't even find a pulse on mr. floyd. you'll learn he's told that twice. they can't even find a pulse. you'll be able to see for yourself what he does in response. you will see that he doesn't let up and doesn't get up, even when mr. floyd does not even have a pulse, it continues on. it continues on, ladies and gentlemen, even after the ambulance arrived on the scene. the ambulance is there and you can see for yourself what mr. chauvin is doing when the ambulance is there. you can compare. you'll be able to compare how he looks in this photograph to how he looked in the first 4 minutes and 45 seconds. same position. doesn't let up. you'll see he doesn't get up. the paramedic from the ambulance

comes over. you'll be able to see this in the video. he checks mr. floyd for a pulse. he has to check him for a pulse you'll see with mr. chauvin continuing to remain on his body at the same time. doesn't get up even when the paramedic comes to check for a pulse and doesn't find one. mr. chauvin doesn't get up. you'll see the paramedics have taken the gurney out of the ambulance, rolled it over to the body of mr. floyd and you'll see mr. chauvin still does not let up. doesn't get up. you'll see it wasn't until such time as they start -- they want to move the lifeless body of george floyd on to the gurney. only then does mr. chauvin let up and get up. you see him drag mr. floyd's body and unceremoniously cast it on to the gurney.

that was for a total of 4 minutes and 44 seconds. you can see here mr. floyd was calling out for his life. not just mr. floyd. you'll see there were by standers there also calling out to let up and get up such that mr. floyd could breathe and maintain and sustain his life. for the remaining 4 minutes and 44 seconds mr. floyd was either unconscious, breathless or pulseless and the compression, the squeezing, the grinding went on just the same for a total of 9 minutes and 29 seconds. you're going to learn in this case quite a lot about the minneapolis police department's use of force policy. what you're going to see and learn a lot about is what is the

standard for applying force against individuals, the use of force policy. you'll learn that the minneapolis police department shall only use the amount of force that is objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances. the force used shall be consistent with current minneapolis police department training. what you'll learn, ladies and gentlemen, is that the use of force must be evaluated from one moment to the next moment. from moment to moment. what may be reasonable in the first minute may not be reasonable in the second minute, the fourth minute, or the 9th minute and 29 seconds. it has to be evaluated from moment to moment. you'll learn that the minneapolis police are precluded, not allowed, to use anymore force than is necessary to bring a person under their control. they can't use anymore restraint

than is necessary. you're going to meet an expert, jodi steiger. he's a los angeles police department sergeant and a use of force expert. he's going to tell you that the force that mr. chauvin was using was lethal force. it was force capable of killing a human or putting his or her life in danger. the evidence is going to show you there was no cause in the first place to use lethal force against a man who was defenseless, who was handcuffed, who was not resisting. there was no cause to use that force in the first place. you're going to hear from minneapolis sergeant david pleeger who is going to talk to you. he was the officer on the scene. he arrived at the scene after this took place. he's going to tell you that the force against mr. floyd should have ended as soon as they put

him on the ground in the first place. meaning that the 9.29 shouldn't have been a 1, much less the 9.29. that went on for way to long he will tell you as far as the restraint on the ground and the manner of restraint for mr. floyd. you're learn about another important policy in the minneapolis police department that's the core principle of policing. you will hear this phrase that police have to live by in terms of how it is they relate to the public. in your custody is in your care. in your custody is in your care. meaning, if you as an officer have an individual, a subject that's in your custody, it is your duty to care for that person and you will learn that caring, ladies and gentlemen, is not a feeling. it's a verb. it's something you're supposed to do to provide care for that person. you are going to hear from any

number of police officers who will talk about this duty to provide care. officer nicole mckenzie, the minneapolis police department medical support coordinator. you'll hear from sergeant kara yang, the mpd crisis intervention coordinator. you're going to learn when mr. floyd was unconscious, when he was breathless, when he did not have a pulse that there was a duty to have administered care to let up and get up. you will learn. you will listen to minneapolis police commander katie blackwell, no relation to my knowledge. you'll hear from katie blackwell. she'll tell you about the tratr training that mr. chauvin received. you'll hear he was a veteran of the minneapolis police department for 19 years, was trained in cpr multiple times at

the time. you'll be able to see for yourself that when mr. floyd was in distress mr. chauvin wouldn't help him, didn't help him. but you're also see he stopped anybody else from being able to help him. you will learn that among the by standers was a first responder, a member of the minneapolis fire department who was trained in administering first aid and emergency care. she's going to talk with her. her name is genevieve hanson. she wanted to check his pulse. she wanted to check on mr. floyd's well-being. she wanted him to get up and let up. she did her best to intercede on george floyd's behalf. when she approached mr. chauvin, reached for his mace on his belt and pointed it in her direction.

she couldn't help. she'll tell you about that experience. you'll learn in the aftermath of this that mr. chauvin's last day of employment with the minneapolis police department was on may 26th of 2020. the minneapolis chief of police is going to come here to talk to you. he was the police chief at the time. she' he's the chief today. he'll tell you that mr. chauvin's conduct was not with minneapolis training, was not consistent with minneapolis conduct. he will not mince any words. he'll be very clear this was excessive force. ultimately, ladies and gentlemen, what was this all about in the first place?

you're going to learn it was about a counterfeit $20 bill used at a convenience store. that's all. you will not hear any evidence mr. floyd knew it was fake or did it on purpose. you will learn from witnesses we will call that the police officers could have written him a ticket and let the court sort it out. you will learn that, even if he did it on purpose, it was a minor offense, a misdemeanor. so in terms of the charges that we're bringing, we're going to prove to you that mr. chauvin's conduct was a substantial cause of mr. floyd's death. we've charged him with murder in the second agree, murder in the third degree and manslaughter for using excessive force. you'll learn that the use of excessive force against a citizen is an assault.

we'll show you this was an assault that contributed to taking his life. we're going to show you that putting knees on somebody's neck, mr. floyd's, putting a knee on his back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds was a dangerous activity and he did it without regard to what impact it had on mr. floyd's life. we're going to show you that putting him in the prone position, on your stomach face down, was uncalled for and an excessive use of force let alone for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. now, how are we going to prove these charges? we're going to prove it ladies and gentlemen first and foremost by witness testimony. we're going to bring in some of those bystanders i referred to, normal folks. they'll tell you what they saw. they'll tell you why they stopped.

they'll tell you why they were concerned. we'll bring them in here. you'll hear from any number of police officers responsible for training, responsible for what the officers learned around first aid, coming to the care of others. we'll bring in a number of police officers, including the chief of police. we're also going to bring in various professionals and experts, medical experts, experts in police conduct. you'll meet any number of them. you will have a forensic pathologist, dr. thomas, who studies the tissues of the decease as a forensic pathologist to determine the cause and manner of death. you'll hear from a pulmonologist, a lung specialist, cardiologist, critical care physicians, emergency medical physicians and also tox alcoicology.

we'll also bring in dr. andrew baker who will tell you what he found. we'll also bring him in. we'll also bring in experts who will prove that the use of force here was not reasonable. i mentioned earlier jodi stieger and seth stoughton. you'll hear from both of them. now, i spent a few minutes talking to you about what the case is about. there are any number of things this case is not about. many an infinite number of things. one of the things this case is not about is all police or all policing. you'll learn from the chief when he comes that police officers have difficult jobs. they have to make split second decisions. they sometimes have to make

split second life and death decisions. you'll meet in number of men and women from the minneapolis police department who do a fantastic job. they're committed. take very seriously preserving life. i mentioned katie blackwell, officer nicole mckenzie to name a few. this case is about mr. chauvin and not about any of those men and women and it's not about all policing. it's not about split second decision making. you are going to hear from one of the bystanders, charles mcmillan. charles mcmillan is going to talk to you about the excessive force that he saw mr. chauvin displaying on may 25th. he will tell you what he

experienced in the way that mr. chauvin looked at him and the other bystanders who were calling out for mr. floyd's life. he will tell you what he saw in terms of mr. chauvin never letting up or getting up off his body. you will be able to observe mr. chauvin's body language for yourself in the video and determine what this language says to you. i'll show you in a moment one of the videos that you're going to see in this trial, just to tee up for you what will be the essence of what we will be focussed on in the trial. i need to tell you ahead of time that the video is graphic. it can be difficult to watch. it is simply the nature of what we're dealing with in this trial, ladies and gentlemen. you're going to see any number of videos from the police officers who had body cameras on. you're also going to see videos

from the bystanders. normal folks, the bystanders. you're going to see this bystanders, a bouquet of humanity. you'll see here a little girl wearing a green shirt on the right with the words love on the green shirt. i won't say her name now. she's a minor. she's going to talk to you about what she saw. next to her in the blue pants is her cousin who at the time was also a minor. i won't tell you her name, but she's also going to come talk to you. the cousin was taking the younger one to cup foods to pick up candy and snacks when they came upon what was happening with mr. chauvin and mr. floyd on the ground. next to the young woman in the blue pants is genevieve hanson,

the first responder who tried to intervene. she's going to testify to you. next to her is a young man named donald williams, trained with a security back grgroundbackgroun. he was very excited and alarmed about what he saw in the exchange between mr. chauvin on top of george floyd. he's going to come in and testify to you. any number of these bystanders will be coming in to talk with you. so they come from the broad spectrum of humanity, different races, different genders. older people, younger people. you will see what they all have in common is they were going about their business. they saw something that was shocking to them, that was disturbing to them and made them stop and take note. stop and take note. they tried to first, you will learn when you meet them, to intercede on what was happening with their voices. they tried to interject, to

exort, to get into good trouble with their voices because something was concerning to them. when that didn't work, any number of them pulled out their cameras to document what was happening such that it would be memorialized, that it wouldn't be misrepresented, that it wouldn't be forgotten. we'll see the footage from one of these bystanders in just a moment. you will learn with respect to these bystanders that none of them knew who george floyd was. they didn't know his history. they didn't know anything about him. all they knew was they came upon an individual that they saw was in some serious distress under the knees of mr. chauvin and it alarmed them. let me show you what the scene looks like just briefly.

here in minneapolis this takes place at the intersection of chicago avenue and 38th street. you can see the image of a squad car on chicago avenue. that's ultimately where mr. floyd was being restrained on the ground under the knees of mr. chauvin. we will spend quite a bit more time with this map during the trial, but just for now i wanted to set the stage for what you're going to see. with that, i'm going to show you the video evidence. the video evidence i think will be very helpful and meaningful to you. you can see it without lawyer talk, lawyer spin, lawyer anything. you can see it for yourself. >> his knee is on the ground.

he's crying. >> please! please! please, i can't breathe! please, man! please, somebody help me. please, man. i can't breathe. >> you got him down. let him breathe, man. >> i'm going to die this day. >> relax. >> i can't breathe. he's killing me. >> what do you want? >> i can't breathe. please, i can't breathe. >> get up and get in the car,

man. >> i will. >> get up in the car. >> i can't move. >> get in the car. >> mama. mama. >> et up. >> i can't. >> you can't win, man. >> you ain't listen. >> my stomach hurts. my neck hurts. everything hurts. water or something. please. please. i can't breathe. they're going to kill me, man. >> your feet is on his neck. >> his nose is bleeding. look at his nose. >> you got your feet on his head. >> i cannot breathe. i cannot breathe.

>> you're a tough guy, huh. he's a tough guy. he ain't even resisting arrest. >> why you just standing there? >> how long y'all got to hold him down? >> he's human, bro. you can put him in the car. >> we tried that for ten minutes. >> sitting there with your knee on his neck. >> we're done. >> that's like a jujitsu move, bro. you don't think nobody understands that. i trained at the academy. that's -- bro. you're -- stopping his breathing

there, bro. get him off the ground. you're being a bum right now. get him off the ground. you're being a bum right now. he enjoying that. he enjoying that --. he's a -- bum, bro. he's enjoying that --. you could have put him in the car. you're enjoying it. look at you. your body language you -- bro. >> they love messing with black people. >> i trained with half these dudes at the academy. you know that's bogus, bro. you can't even look at me like a man because you're a bum, bro. >> his nose is bleeding. >> he's passed up. >> you're -- stopping his breathing right now. you think that's cool? what's your -- man, what's your badge number, bro? you think that's cool right now, bro. >> call the police on another

police. >> you think that's cool? you're a bum for that. you're a bum for that. you're just stopping his breathing. >> look at him. >> what the --? >> look at him. get off him now. >> what is wrong with y'all? >> what the --? >> he got mace. >> he cannot breathe. >> get out of here first of all. >> he's not responsive right now. >> back off! >> look at him. >> get off the street. >> he's not responsive right now. he's not responsive right now. he's not responsive right now, bro. >> does he have a pulse? >> no. he's not responsive right now. >> check for a pulse. >> bro, are you serious? >> let me see a pulse. >> is he breathing right now? >> check his pulse. >> check his pulse.

>> tao, check his pulse, bro. you bogus. >> don't do drugs. >> don't do drugs? what is that? you call what he's doing okay? >> you call what you're doing okay? >> are you a firefighter? >> yes, from minneapolis. >> you think that's okay? check his pulse. >> check his pulse right now. >> the man ain't moving, bro. the man ain't moved yet, bro. >> you're a bum, bro. you're definitely a bum, bro. >> tell me what his pulse is right now. >> check his pulse. bro, he has not moved. >> he's off -- >> he probably oded. >> go back in the store, bro. he's not -- moving. >> i see that. >> i'm trying to help y'all out. >> you don't need to help me

right now. he's not -- moving. >> they did -- >> i've been watching it the all time. >> bro, he's not -- moving. >> did they -- kill him? >> bro, where's your 1087, bro? you're a bum. first thing you want to grab is your mace because you're scared, bro. scared of -- minorities. >> get the -- off him. >> three minutes, bro. he's not -- moving. bro, he's not even -- moving. get off his -- neck, bro. get off his neck. >> you're still on him. >> get back off the street. >> bro, are you serious? you're going to keep your -- bro, don't touch me like that.

>> anybody call the ambulance? >> he's going to let him get on his neck. tao, you going to let him kill that man in front of you? bro, he's not even moving right now. >> we're going to deal with this. >> you're not going to help, bro? >> he's black. they don't care. >> you're a bum, bro. >> they don't care, bro. >> you're going to sit there with your knee on his neck? you're a real man for that, bro. he's in handcuffs. you're a real man, bro. >> you guys aren't checking his pulse and doing compressions. >> oh, my god. >> they just dragged him. come on now. >> i'm going to have your name. >> that's not very -- >> it don't matter. >> freedom of speech.

>> don't touch him. >> i got this all on camera. >> you touched him. shut up. >> you went to him. you're always trying to start something. >> this is bogus, bro. he's dead, bro. >> 929. the three most important numbers in the case. 9 minutes and 29 seconds is how long they went on. for half that time mr. floyd was unconscious. you will see in the videos, ladies and gentlemen, that mr. floyd from time to time was heaving up his right shoulder. there's a reason for that. mr. chauvin is on his left side, his back and his neck. he can't move. his hands are behind his back.

he's heaving to get room for his rib cage to expand to breathe. at this point you'll learn he's pancaked. in order to breathe you have to have room for the lungs to expand in and out. you'll see mr. floyd doing his best to crank his right shoulder up, having to lift up his weight and mr. chauvin's weight to get a breath for as long as he could get a breath. you'll see and hear more about that during the trial. you'll learn that a number of the bystanders there called the police on the police. genevieve hanson the first responder called the police on the police. donald williams, the young man who is very vocal, security background, mixed martial arts background, saw the pressure put on the neck. he called the police on the police. not only that, you're going to

learn that there was a 911 dispatcher, her name is jenna scurry. she's going to talk to you also. there was a fixed police camera trained on this particular scene and she could see through the camera what was going on. you will learn what what she saw was so unusual and for her so disturbing that she did something she had never done in her career. she called the police on the police, a 911 dispatcher. she called sergeant david pleeger. she called him to report what she saw. she will tell you she saw a man literally lose his life. you will hear her testify. now, i want to talk to you a little bit about intent, that is

what our evidence is going to be on the issue of intent. as i mentioned, we'll show you that the use of force was excessive and unreasonable. we'll show that it was not accidental in terms of what was happening at the scene, that what mr. chauvin was doing he was doing deliberately. now, when we bring you the evidence of intent, it's not going to come in like a sandwich board and the front side says this is our evidence of the intent and the back side says you saw it. we'll bring it to you through the totality of all the evidence. you will hear from nicole mckenzie, the medical support coordinator for the minneapolis police department. she will tell you that the dangers of the prone position, putting people face down on the ground have been known about in policing for over 30 years. they train officers on it. they will tell you that citizens

under arrest should never be put in the prone position except momentarily to get them under police custody or control to get handcuffs on them, but never always in that position. mr. floyd was already in hand handcuffs. so they didn't need to do that to get him under police control. she will tell you the reason you don't put persons in the prone position that way, let alone with a man's body weight on them, let alone for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, is because it obstructs the airways. you'll hear from the use of force training coordinator. he's going to tell you about what training mr. chauvin had received. he's also going to tell you that he knows of no training that would suggest that kneeling on somebody's neck as mr. chauvin was doing was proper according

to the minneapolis police department training. you will learn that officers are trained to avoid putting pressure on areas that are above the areas of the shoulder, on the spinal column, on the neck, on the head and that to do that is using deadly force because if you are putting pressure or blows in those areas you run the risk of seriously injuring the person or potentially killing them. it could be deadly force. they're trained not to do that. above all, the police are trained in the side recovery position. if you have to put somebody in the prone position to get them under control, you turn them over on the side as soon as possible so you don't obstruct their aways airways. you put them in the side recovery position right away. you'll hear all about the importance of that.

we'll obviously bring you the evidence of all of the warnings that mr. chauvin would have received, not just from george floyd himself, but from the calls by the bystanders, from the approach of the ambulance, from the paramedics and so on, all of whom did their part to encourage him to let up and get up. you can consider that under the umbrella of intent. now, i'm going to talk with you a second about the evidence on causation, the medical causation in terms of what was happening to mr. floyd on the ground. if i had to give this part of the evidence, you'll see a name, i will tell you you can believe your eyes that it's a homicide. it's murder. you can believe your eyes. here's what you'll be able to see for yourself. you'll be able to see every part of what mr. floyd went through

from his first crying out, to his effort to move his shoulder to get room to breathe. you'll hear his voice get deeper and heavier, his words further apart, his respiration more shallow. you'll see him when he goes uncomm unconscious. you'll see the anoxic seizures from oxygen deprivation. you'll see when he's going through the involuntary gasping of the body once the heart has stopped from oxygen deficiency. you'll hear and will be well aware when there was a loss of pulse. you'll hear from a number of experts on the stand that putting a man in the prone position with handcuffs behind his back, number pressing down on him for 9 minutes and 29 seconds is enough to take a

life. you'll hear from other experts who will point to the significant evidence of the excessive force put on mr. floyd's body. you'll be able to see, ladies and gentlemen, the road rash on the shoulders from wear he was pressed to the pavement from the weight on top of him. the same to the knuckles on his hands when he's trying to get up to breathe. the damage of his nose when he pushed his nose into the pavement to breathe. you'll learn the last 9 minutes and 29 seconds for mr. floyd's life matches the patterns of somebody who dies from oxygen deficiencies. we'll point to the video evidence. you'll see for yourself. you'll also hear and see certain evidence of what this was not. this was not a fatal heart

event. it was not, for example, a heart attack. you'll learn there was no injury whatsoever to mr. floyd's heart as in a heart attack. you'll hear evidence that mr. floyd had an artery in his heart partially clogged. you're hear there was no damage to mr. floyd's heart from inadequate blood supply to his heart. there was no clotting in his heart. you'll learn that the medical examiner when he was examining mr. floyd's heart after he died so no evidence of heart injury. it was so unremarkable he didn't even photograph the heart. you'll learn this was not what's called a fatal arrythmia. the heart beats and occasionally gets out of rhythm. out of rhythm the heart may

stop. you'll learn when a person suffers that they stop and drop right where they are. it's instant death. you'll see for yourself that mr. floyd did not die an instant death. he died one breath at a time over an extended period of time. doesn't look like the way that one dies from a fatal arrythmia. this was not an instant death. you'll learn, ladies and gentlemen, that george floyd struggled with an opoid addiction. he struggled with it for years. you will learn that he did not die from a drug overdose. he did not die from an opoid overdose. why? because you'll be able to look at the video footage and see he looks nothing like a person who would die from an opoid overdose. opoid is a tranquilizer.

when a person dies from an overdose, what do they look like? asleep, and they never come to again. they pass away. they're not screaming for their lives. they're not calling on their mothers. they're not begging please, please i can't breathe. that's not what an opoid overdose looks like. you'll learn mr. floyd had 11 milligrams of fentanyl in his system when he died. you have to learn about tolerance. for a person never exposed to opoid or fentanyl, that may be lethal for them. for others who have been struggling for years, they have a different tolerance level. you'll learn that 11 milligrams of fentanyl is in the range of people who receive fentanyl for cancer pain. mr. floyd lived with his opoid addiction for years.

you can see on the video his behavior is not consistent with an opoid addiction. he was not nonresponsive. he was struggling for his life. you'll hear from a forensic patho pathologist, dr. lindsay thomas. what she does is studies body tissues on australian open to try to determine the cause and manner of death. she did this over a 35-year career in minnesota counties, counties in wisconsin. she's determined manner and cause of death in thousands. she's semi-retired now and works as a consultant still in the field of pathology.

she was one of the persons who helped to train the current hennepin county medical examiner dr. andrew baker when he was just getting started out. here is where dr. baker and dr. thomas agree as to the manner of mr. floyd's death. y i'll show you the findings from dr. baker. when he lists manner of death for george floyd, homicide. now i want to explain to you when he uses homicide, it's not the way we use it in a courtroom. it simply means that a person died at the hands of another, that's what they means. i will show you what list that is from and dr. thomas will testify about that. it means he died at the hands of another. you'll also learn that he listed a cause of death.

cardio pulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement sub dual, restraint and neck compression. i'll translate this into english. cause of death cardio pulmonary arrest. what you'll learn is that every h human being has something in common. number one is they're born. number two is they die from cardio pulmonary arrest. that just means the heart stops and the lung stops. it means death. cause of death, death. complicating law enforce s subduing the cause of death. how the injury occurred, george floyd, received a cardio pulmonary arrest while being

restrained by law enforcement officers. in terms of the manner of death, you see it says homicide. here would be the standard list that medical examiners look to in determining the manner of death. how the injury or disease leads to death. five manners of death. natural, natural causes. a heart attack is a natural death. a fatal arrythmia is a natural cause of death. accident. a drug overdose is an example of an accidental death. car accident can be an accidental death. suicide. homicide which is death at the hands of another or undetermined. if you can't tell which it is or what it is, you indicate undetermined. here you will learn that dr. andrew baker and dr. thomas determined among these possible

manners of death it wasn't natural. it wasn't accidental. not suicide. not undetermined. it was homicide. death at thehands of another. that's not all that dr. thomas is going to tell you. she's going to tell you something about the limitations of pathology. that is looking at the tissues of persons after they're deceased in trying to determine whether somebody died as a result of oxygen deficiency. there are limitations. in over half the cases where somebody dies from insufficient oxygen, there are no signs in the body tissues. she will give you an example of somebody who is smothered by a pillow and they die that way. you may see nothing in the body tissues, but you know they died from oxygen deficiency. you'll hear on autopsy they didn't see any objective things in george floyd's tissues. you have to look at all the

evidence and we can see what happened at the scene. we can see moment by moment that he had all the tell tale signs of a person struggling and suffering from not receiving sufficient oxygen. she will say you have to look at all the evidence and we'll show you that objective evidence as we go through. finally, i want to talk to you about some of the evidence you'll hear, some of the facts that do not excuse this excessive use of force. you'll hear about them. we'll tell you about them. for example, you'll hear that george floyd was a big guy. he was over 6 feet tall. every police conduct witness we bring to you on the stand, every use of force expert will tell you his size is no excuse for any police abuse. you're going to hear obviously

that he struggled with drug addiction. that he had high blood pressure. they'll talk about heart disease. we'll tell you about that. you'll learn that george floyd lived for years day in and day out every day with all these conditions until the one day on may 25th when he entered the 9 minutes and 29 seconds and that's the only day he didn't survive. that was the only day he didn't come out again. you'll learn that. it's not an excuse for what happened in the 9 minutes and 29 seconds. you'll hear what happened earlier in the day on may 25th. you'll be able to see how the police approached him in his vehicle over the fake $20 bill. you'll be able to see when they approached his car and came to his window within seconds they pulled out their gun, were pointing it as his head and using the foulest of language.

you'll see him get out of his car, put him in handcuffs, pat him down so they know he doesn't have any weapons. you'll hear george floyd when he approaches the squad car saying he's terrified to be put in the squad car. you'll hear him say i think i'm going to die if they put me in there. he was terrified. you'll hear him talk about that. he said he was claustrophobic. he asked to count himself into the way to the squad car. he counts one, two and they man handle him and you'll see how he freaks out. you'll hear him say i can't breathe in the back of the squad car. we'll show you in the back of the squad car where mr. chauvin had his hands around mr. floyd's neck in the squad car, his arms around his neck when they pulled

him out of the squad car and put him on the ground in the prone position for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. at the time they put mr. floyd on the ground that way, there were five grown men armed police officers who were on the scene over a fake $20 bill. there were five of them there. mr. chauvin and his partner, the two officers who showed up earlier and a member of the park police. there were five there. for a man who didn't threaten anybody, you will see committed no act of violence, didn't try to run away and who was put in the prone position this way with five grown men, armed police officers present. none of that, ladies and gentlemen, we submit you will find to be an excuse for what happened in the 9 minutes and 29 seconds. we're also going to want you to learn something about george floyd.

george perry floyd. he was not simply just an object of the excessive use of force of police. he was a real person. i want you to learn something about him. at the time that he was killed he was 46 years old. he was a father, a brother, a cousin, a friend to many. originally from houston, texas. before houston he was from my home state of north carolina. fayetteville, north carolina before houston is where his family was from. he excelled in basketball and football. loved shooting hoops even to the end. kept himself fit that way. he moved to minnesota from texas for a fresh start and the rest of this you'll learn about him. his work as a security guard. he lost his job when covid hit. he was a covid survivor, george floyd was. he lost his job when his employer was forced to close given covid.

the point to all of this is that we want you to know something about who george floyd was as a person because he was somebody to a lot of other bodies in the world. ladies and gentlemen, i'm going to sit down in a moment this morning. we're going to show you through the evidence that there was no excuse for the police abuse of mr. chauvin. we're going to ask at the end of this case that you find mr. chauvin guilty for his excessive use of force against george floyd that was an assault, that contributed to taking his life and putting the knee on the neck and knee on the back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds without regard for mr. floyd's life. we ask you'll find him guilty of murder in the second degree,

murder in the third degree and second degree manslaughter. thank you. >> mr. nelson, do you wish to oen at this time? >> yes, your honor. >> you may. >> a reasonable doubt is a doubt based upon reason and common sense. at the end of this case we'll spend a lot of time talking about doubt. for purposes of my remarks this morning, i want to talk about reason and common sense and how that applies to the evidence that you're about to see during the course of this trial. reason is an idea that wholly permeates our law and legal system and forms the foundation. you'll see and hear that

repeatedly throughout the course of this trial. what would a reasonable police officer do? what is a reasonable use of force? what would a reasonable person do in his or her most important affairs? what is a reasonable doubt? as such, reason dictates and necessitates how the evidence must be looked at and analyzed in every single case. common sense is exactly that, it's common sense. common sense tells you there are always two sides to a story. common sense tells us we need to exa examine the totality of the circumstances to determine the meaning of evidence and how it can be applied to the questions of reasonableness, of actions and reactions. in other words common sense is the application of sound judgment based on a reasoned analysis. that's what this case is ultimately about.

it's about the evidence in this case. the evidence that you will see in this case during this trial. it is, i agree with counsel for the state, it is nothing more than that. there is no political or social cause in this courtroom. but the evidence is far greater than 9 minutes and 29 seconds. in this case you will learn that the evidence has been collected broadly and expansively. minnesota bureau of criminal apprehension employed nearly 50 case agents, analysts and technicians to investigate this case. the federal bureau of investigation included at least 20 additional agents in the investigation. these agents combined have engaged in an extensive and far-reaching investigation.

they interviewed over 50 members of the minneapolis police department, including the officers who responded to the scene after mr. floyd was brought to the hospital. they interviewed members of the minneapolis police department command staff. they interviewed officers who oversee training and policy-making decisions within the minneapolis police department. they have interviewed nearly 200 civilian witnesses. some of the witnesses saw the entire incident. some saw a portion of the incident. many who saw nothing. some who had some piece of information to give to the officers. others who had nothing. these agents interviewed the numerous medical personnel who attended to mr. floyd and they interviewed the numerous firefighters and paramedics who

responded. agents executed approximately a dozen search warrants to gather information. in the end you'll hear a term throughout, i believe, this case called the bate stamp number. track of the case, to make sure we're working from the same set of documents, the same set of evidence to preserve the integrity of the investigation. you'll learn that we are approaching 50,000 bate stamped items. this case is clearly more than about 9 minutes and 29 seconds. as you all saw during jury selection, the witness list in this case neared 400 people. how do we begin to analyze and organiza organize this evidence? i suggest you let common sense

and reason guide you. i propose every witness you'll hear from and every piece of evidence you'll see during this trial can be assigned to one of four basic locations. cup foods, the mercedes-benz, squad 320 and hennepin county medical center. let's start at the first, cup foods. on may 25, 2020 shortly after 7:00 p.m. mr. floyd and his friend maurice hall entered the cup foods. while they were there, they ran into another friend, mr. floyd's exgirlfriend. he offered her a ride. you will hear from chris martin who was the store clerk at cup foods. mr. martin observed mr. floyd. he watched his body language. he interacted with mr. floyd in

this moment and mr. martin formed the opinion that mr. floyd was under the influence of something. you will see the actual video from inside cup foods. mr. floyd did use a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase a pack of cigarettes. mr. martin realized this and first along with another co-worker went outside to the car where mr. floyd, mr. hall and ms. hill were sitting. mr. martin asked mr. floyd to come in and either buy the cigarettes, or return the cigarettes. you'll hear from mr. martin that mr. hall and mr. floyd refused. you'll hear that a short time later mr. martin went back to the car a second time. he went back to ask them again, please come inside, give us the money or return the cigarettes. that second time, again,

mr. floyd refused. so, at 8:01 p.m., a second clerk called 911 to report mr. floyd. during that time mr. kamara described mr. floyd as drunk and that he could not control himself. he's not acting right. he's 6 to 6 and a half feet tall. accordingly officers were dispatched to the scene. they were driving minneapolis squad car 320. they parked facing southbound in the northbound lane and were directed by store employees to the second location, the merced mercedes-benz. during the trial you'll hear

evidence of what happened in the mercedes-benz in the 20 or 30 minutes prior to police arriving. you'll hear from mr. floyd's friends ms. hill and mr. hall. this will include evidence while they were in the car mr. floyd consumed what were thought to be two percocet pills. mr. floyd's friends will explain that mr. floyd fell asleep in the car and they couldn't wake him up. they were trying to wake him up to get going because they thought the police were coming. they kept trying to wake him up. one of these friends called her daughter, ms. hill called her daughter shakira prince to come get her because they couldn't keep mr. floyd awake. at 8:09 p.m. officer kueng and

lane approached the vehicle. you'll see and hear the body worn cameras of these officers that fully capture the entire action with mr. floyd and his friends. you will see officer lane draw his service weapon after mr. floyd failed several times to respond to his commands to show him his hands. you'll learn that's an acceptable police practice. you'll see the officers struggle with mr. floyd to get him out of the mercedes-benz and handcuffed. you will see and hear everything that these officers and mr. floyd say to each other. the evidence will show that when confronted by police, mr. floyd put drugs in his mouth in an effort to conceal them from the

police. at approximately 8:10 p.m. officer peter chang responds. he responds to assist officer kueng and officer lane. this becomes important as we learn about police practices because what you'll learn is when an officer responds to what is sometimes a routine and minimal event, it often evolves into a greater and more serious event. you will seizue surveillance fra local business called the dragon walk that captures the actions and reactions of everyone present at that location, including evidence of further concealment of controlled

substances. during the course of the investigation two search warrants were executed on the mercedes-benz. the first on may 27, 2020. the second several months later on december 9th of 2020. bca agents located various pieces of evidence during both of these searches, including two pills that later analysis by the bca revealed to be a mixture of methamphetamine and a sedative, what's called a speed ball. you will learn that these pills were manufactured to have the appearance of percocet. while standing next to the mercedes-benz officer kueng and officer lane both asked mr. floyd what he was on. he said he was on nothing.

officer kueng and lane escorted mr. floyd to the third location, minneapolis squad 320. the evidence will show as officer king and lane escorted mr. floyd a citizen named charles mcmillan kind of joined them. he was encouraging mr. floyd to cooperate with police officers. get in the car, you can't win. the evidence will show that mr. floyd and the officers began to struggle as they attempted to get him into the squad car. you'll learn that officer derrick chauvin and his partner tou thao arrived. upon their arrival the first thing officer chauvin sees the officer kueng and lane struggling with mr. floyd.

mr. chauvin asked the officers is he under arrest? yes. then officer chauvin began to assist them in their efforts to get him into the squad car. you will see that three minneapolis police offices could not overcome the strength of mr. floyd. mr. chauvin stands 5'9", 140 pounds. mr. floyd is 6'2" weighs 223 pounds. you'll learn because of this inter intersection, it's considered a high crime video, the city installs a camera that sits high upon a pole and can surveil the intersection. when you see these videos, you will be able to see the minneapolis police squad car rocking back and forth during

this struggle. so much so this it catches the attention of the 911 dispatcher, jenna scurry. this was not an easy struggle. as the struggle continues, you will see and hear both what mr. floyd was saying to the officers and the officers' responses to him. mr. floyd does end up on the street and appeared to continue to struggle to these officers. so much so that they considered applying what's called the maximal restraint technique. it used to be called the hobble or the hog tie. mr. chauvin used his knee to pin mr. floyd's left shoulder blade and back to the ground and his right knee to pin mr. floyd's left arm to the ground. you will see and hear the

officers continue to struggle with mr. floyd as he's attempting to kick. you will see and hear a crowd begins to develop watching and recording officers, initially passive. as the situation went on, the crowd began to grow angry. here's what you will also see and hear, you'll see and hear the conversation between the officers behind the squad car. the crowd is not aware of what they are saying and doing. you will learn that several bystanders including donald williams and genevieve hanson grew more and more upset with the officers. you've seen it this morning. you will also see it from the perspective of the police officers. as the crowd grew in size, seemingly so too did their anger.

remember, there's more to the scene than just what the officers see in front of them. there are people behind them. there are people across the street. there are cars stopping. people yelling. there is a growing crowd and what officers perceive to be a threat. they're called names. you heard them this morning. a -- bum. they're screaming at them. causing the officers to divert their attention from the care of mr. floyd to the threat that was growing in front of them. at this location questions emerge about the reasonableness of the use of force. this will ultimately become one of the decisions that you have to make. to answer these questions the bureau of criminal apprehension, the evidence will show the bureau investigated the

minneapolis police department's training and policies. you will learn about things such as the authorized use of force, proportion alty of force, delirium, defense of practices, maximum restraint technique. you'll learn about rapidly evolving situations and the minneapolis police department's decision making model. you'll learn about crowd control. medical intervention. deescalation. procedural intervention and the human factors of force, that is what happens to a police officer, or any person when they're involved in a high-stress situation. you'll learn that derrick chauvin did exactly what he was trained to do. the use of force is not

attractive, but it is a necessary component of policing. the evidence will again demonstrate that the minnesota bureau of apprehension conducted two searches of squad 320. you're going to learn that there were discovered three partial pills. the pills were analyzed, shown to be consistent with the pills found in the mercedes-benz and contained methamphetamine and traces of fentanyl. more over, they contained the dna and saliva of george floyd. that leads us to our final location, hennepin medical center. the evidence will show officers made two calls for emergency help. those calls were within one

minute and 30 seconds of each other. officers called for paramedics to arrive code two because mr. floyd had a nose injury. that occurred during the struggle. mr. flood banged his face into the plexiglass partition of the squad car. you'll see the blood evidence in the squad car. that first call came at 8:20:11. the second call was a code three call. get here as fast as you can. that call was made at 8:21:35. you'll learn the paramedics

arrived 19 minutes after officer kueng and lane arrived and they did what they referred to as a load and go because of the crowd. they came, they picked up -- rather than attempting to resuscitate him or treat him on the scene, they loaded him into the ambulance and drove to a location several blocks away to begin here efforts. you will hear and learn that officer thomas lane accompanied them for part of that time. you will learn ultimately that mr. floyd was transported to the emergency department at hennepin county where efforts to save mr. floyd were made at the direction of dr. bradford. again, he took important tests. he ran blood samples and blood gas samples. he obtained important pieces of

information. you'll learn that later that evening mr. floyd was pronounced dead. dr. andrew baker of the hennepin county medical examiner's office conducted the only autopsy of mr. floyd. you'll hear of several interviews that dr. baker had with law enforcement where he discusses the cause and manner of death and what that means according to what he saw present in mr. floyd's body. some of this evidence is extremely important to the final determination of mr. floyd's cause of death. medical findings include the blood gas test taken that revealed mr. floyd had an exceptionally high level of carbon dioxide. dr. baker found none of what are referred to as the tell-tale signs of as fixation.

there was no bruises to mr. floyd's neck, either on his skin or after peeling his skin back to the muscles beneath. there was no pe teak y'all hemorrhaging. there was no evidence that mr. floyd's air flow was restrictive and he did not appear to be a positional as fix i can't death. at the time mr. floyd was in the hospital, a femoral blood draw was taken and analyzed by a lab. the results of mr. floyd's t toxicology screen revealed the presence of fentanyl among other things. it's important to know the difference between fentanyl and methamphetamine. the autopsy revealed many other

issues including coronary disease, an enlarged heart, a paragangioma, which is a tumor that secrets adrenaline, swelling or edema of the lungs. the state was not satisfied with dr. baker's work. so they contracted with numerous physicians to contradict dr. baker's findings. this will be another significant battle in this trial. what was mr. floyd's actual cause of death. the evidence will show that mr. floyd died of a cardiac arrythmia that occurred as a result of hypertension, coronary disease, the ingestion of methamphetamine and fentanyl and the adrenaline flowing through his body, all of which acted to further compromise an already compromised heart. at the conclusion of this evidence you'll be instructed as

to the law, the elements of offense. the court will give you detailed instructions on what you must find to convict mr. chauvin of these charges. when you review the actual evidence and when you hear the law and apply reason and common sense, there will only be one just verdict. that is to find mr. chauvin not guilty. thank you. >> members of the jury -- >> there you have it. eric nelson, derek chauvin's lead attorney with his opening statement. >> bathroom needs and other needs are important. we can expand it a little bit. i don't want you to be nervous about making sure your personal business is done within the 20 minutes. the 20 minutes is what we try to stick to. now the deputy will take you back to the other courtroom.

we're in recess until 11:15. >> the judge, peter cahill, telling the jurors they'll take their morning break. the most important thing that we witnessed this morning was the sort of split screen, if you will, of the opening statements. we first heard from jerry blackwell with the prosecution. it did not take long before we saw the image, not only seen in this country, but around the world of officer chauvin with his knee to george floyd's neck. he talked about the application, the use of force. he talked about how the jurors would witness, not only the image on your screen, but the video. he played the video. he talked often about 9 minutes and 29 seconds and played 8

minutes 38 second of that video. it was no easier to watch than when we were of this trial will notice from george floyd his words were further apart, his breathing grew shallower, he said "i can't breathe" and as jerry blackwell said on the prosecution, he said it 27 times. you could see derek chauvin taking notes a number of times during this opening statement. he said you're going to hear from bystanders and he talked about use of force extensively, he said it should be consistent with training that maybe what's reasonable in the first moment won't be reasonable in the next moment. he said you will hear about training involving cpr, that basic chauvin knew and was repeatedly trained on cpr and will ultimately ask, did he sense that when he no longer heard anything from george floyd, that that would be something that he should do. he said this is not aboll